I recently read a sermon by Dr. Philip McLarty called "When preaching turns to meddling".  In it he writes….."Have you ever gone to church and listened to a sermon and everything was going along just fine when, all of a sudden, the preacher said something that really upset you and got you all bent out of shape?

I’ll never forget a sermon I preached in Quinlan, Texas in 1976.  The text for the day was from the third chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, where he says,

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ

have clothed yourselves with Christ.

 There is no longer Jew or Greek,

 there is no longer slave or free,

 there is no longer male and female;

for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

(Galatians 3:27-28)

I spent the bulk of the sermon talking about various conflicts in the early church and how Paul appealed to the Galatians to rise above their differences.  Then I talked about what it means to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and how Paul had said if anyone was in Christ he was a new creation: “Behold, the old has passed away, a new being has emerged.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

     Everything was going along smoothly.  The people were smiling and nodding in approval.  And then I got to the conclusion.  I listed three areas of conflict we were experiencing in the church at the time.  I thought it was uncanny how Paul’s word spoke with such relevance to us in our day.  Yet, no sooner than the words were out of my mouth, one of the old saints of the church stood up right there in the middle of the congregation and started preaching a sermon of his own.

     He ranted and raved for a good five minutes, all the while pointing and wagging his finger at me.  Finally, he sat down red-faced and out of breath.  I’m not sure just what happened after that.  I suppose we stood and sang the closing hymn.

     Later in the week, I drove out to visit the man.  I asked him, “What happened?”  He said, “I’ll tell you exactly what happened, preacher, you went from preaching to meddlin’!"

     Having read this I wondered ...Where do you draw the line?  When does preaching the gospel become meddling in the personal affairs of those in the congregation.  In our world today, I believe if you want to find evidence of preaching turning to meddling, you just need to look on the internet.  There are so many blogs out there you can find any number of irate people who write about what they heard in church and then turn it around onto the preacher OR THE CHURCH ITSELF.  Unfortunately, It was at its height when we as diocese were electing our new bishop but it happens all the time.  In our electronic age, it doesn’t take but a couple of minutes to get words and rebuttals out there.     

    We don’t need someone to stand up in the middle of the congregation to preach their own sermon, just wait till after church and let them post their issue on their blog, or facebook, or twitter, or you tube, and the list goes on.  You may scoff but I can’t tell you how many Episcopalians in our own diocese do exactly that.    So if Jesus were alive today, he too would lay victim to the same. 

     He would have been vilified in the same way by those who would say, what’s he talking about, he’s just the kid who grew up in Nazareth, he’s just Joseph and Mary’s son.  Why did he go to the river to be baptized… and spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying and being tempted… What was that about?  At first when he came back and taught in the synagogues he may have been seen as a great teacher,  Luke says, “… he was glorified by all.” (4:15)  The elders were astonished because he taught with such power and authority. (Lk. 4:32)  But then after reading this passage from Isaiah, can’t you hear the parking lot talk, and imagine the cell phone texting, perhaps even as he is speaking….  Jacob would say “My own Rueben was in Hebrew school with him and he was always a bit meddling and pious then.” Or maybe Isaac would say “ My wife’s family is related to him, she would know if he was the messiah and she’s never told me he was….”they would have used their cell phones to record him in the synagogue as he read Isaiah and then put it on you tube so the whole world could comment.

      The Gospel is very clear about Jesus going from  preaching to meddlin…afterall meddlin is taking people out of their comfort zones and confronting them with a biblical truth like Jesus calling us to use our gifts no matter what they are to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give to the poor.   I would also add my own preaching gone to meddlin that I believe Jesus is also calling us to help the Haitians come out from under the terrible devastation they have suffered from the earthquake and the needs of a country in desperate turmoil.  We can do that through our own Episcopal Relief and Development or the Conge Bread and water campaign that our diocese is a part of, or any other number of ways that fit your sense of mission.

     Jesus wants our preaching to turn to meddlin so that we can reach out and touch the lives of our brothers and sisters, whether they are churched or not, whether they know Jesus or not, because only by living the Gospel can we bring others to Christ.  Through Jesus' teaching we are called to be meddlers so that we can bring a change to the world and people will say, I want the joy and peace those Christians have, how can I get it?  I want to help others in the world so we can transform the world and bring about the Kingdom of God. 

     So I urge each of us to go from preaching to meddlin so that  we can bring the love of Christ to a broken and hurting world.

Blessings to you who are already worshiping with us and for those of you visiting our web page for the first time;
Whoever you are and wherever you may be on your journey to God,
you are welcome at St Timothy’s.

Rev. Tula Henson +

Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.